Redemption - Electric Bard

A square of stiff pasteboard tucked in the vest A lavender date-stamp where fingers impressed The heavy gate dropped its mechanical bar As motion ignited a metallic jar The platform shook hard underneath the left shoe While I stood stock-still in the damp avenue No dread of the distance, no fear of the spark Just thirty long winters of missing the mark Thirty long winters of rubbing the card Swallowing poison inside of the yard Watching the carriages melt in the gloom Strolling right back to a predictable room Unpunched Pass In The Waistcoat Sleeve! Thirty Years Of Waiting For The Mind To Leave! Rattling The Railing While The Motion Struts! Gnawing On The Stagnant Line, No Ands Or Buts! Keep The Pasteboard Smooth, Keep The Corner Square! Danced Around The Platform But I Never Got There! Seeking Redemption. I need Redemption. Ticket please! This unpunched ticket's me! The ink has dissolved to a faint violet streak A quiet memento of when I was weak The whistle blew sharp and the vapor climbed high I buttoned my coat against the pitiless sky Not a doubt in the marrow, not a slip of the toe Just a choice made in silence to never let go Watching the red marker shrink down to grey Trading the ticket for the same yesterday Thirty long winters of rubbing the card Swallowing poison inside of the yard Watching the carriages melt in the gloom Strolling right back to a predictable room Unpunched Pass In The Waistcoat Sleeve! Thirty Years Of Waiting For The Mind To Leave! Rattling The Railing While The Motion Struts! Gnawing On The Stagnant Line, No Ands Or Buts! Keep The Pasteboard Smooth, Keep The Corner Square! Danced Around The Platform But I Never Got There! Seeking Redemption. I need Redemption. Ticket please! This unpunched ticket's me! Didn't miss the departure. Didn't miss the jump. Nailed to the flagstones like a petrified stump. Thirty years grinding the teeth on the choice. Drowning the engine by lowering the voice. The card stays unblemished. The card stays neat. Glued like hot pitch to the soles of the feet. Unpunched Pass In The Waistcoat Sleeve! Thirty Years Of Waiting For The Mind To Leave! Rattling The Railing While The Motion Struts! Gnawing On The Stagnant Line, No Ands Or Buts! Keep The Pasteboard Smooth, Keep The Corner Square! Danced Around The Platform But I Never Got There! Seeking Redemption. I need Redemption. Ticket please! This unpunched ticket's me! Unpunched card... Thirty years... Slip the brass latch... Zero departures tonight.